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Pasta e Fagioli (AKA pasta and beans) is a classic, yet simple Italian dish, is one of my favorites. It’s traditionally more of a soup, but Kramer hates broth-based tomato-type soups (he also hates minestrone, if you can believe it), so I thickened this up to make it more like a pasta with a sauce type dish. It all depends on how long you let it reduce for, so this can be as thin or thick as you like. I loved this because it had sausage and big chunks of tomatoes, and while it only calls for a cup of pasta, it really goes a long way! I used chicken sausage and whole-wheat pasta, along with low-sodium chicken broth and some fresh spinach and arugula to make this a tad bit healthier, and it was even better the next day when I brought it to work for lunch! I would recommend this dish for anyone who’s got picky eaters at home. Recipe after the jump!

Your ingredients!

Heat the olive oil in a large pot over medium heat and add the diced onion. Sauté for 3 to 4 minutes or until just softened. Add in the sausage, removed from casing, and cook until done and well crumbled.

Like so.

Add the garlic and stir constantly for 60 seconds then add the chicken broth.

Add your tomatoes, drained beans, and seasonings to the soup and simmer partly covered for 1-2 hours. The original recipe tells you to blend the tomatoes before adding them, but I wanted a thicker, pasta sauce type dish rather than a soup, so I just added the whole tomatoes and let them cook down a bit and smashed them a little with my wooden spoon.

When ready to eat, turn the soup up to a slow boil then add the pasta and cook per instructions until al dente, then add your fresh greens.

Freshly grated Parmesan cheese for garnish (I used the Parm but I don't think it's necessary if you don't have any on hand)

Instructions

Heat the olive oil in a large Dutch oven over medium heat. Add the diced onion and sauté for 3-4 minutes or until softened.

Add the sausage, removed from casing, and cook until done and well crumbled. Add the garlic and stir constantly for 60 seconds, then add the chicken broth.

Pour the tomatoes and their juices into a large bowl, blend the tomatoes thoroughly with an immersion blender (or just use a blender) then pour into the Dutch oven (** I did not do this, I just dumped the tomatoes straight in and let them cook and soften and broke them up a bit with a wooden spoon - it makes for a chunkier sauce, if that's your taste). Add the drained beans and seasonings to the soup and simmer partly covered for 1-2 hours.

When you are ready to eat up, turn the soup to a slow boil then add the pasta and cook per instructions. Taste the soup and re-season if needed. Once the pasta is cooked, add the fresh spinach and parsley and stir until wilted. Serve with a bit of freshly grated Parmesan cheese on top. Serves about 4-5.

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14 Responses

this is the first time i’ve heard of pasta e fagioli – how very cool! i didn’t know that italians paired pasta with beans.. except for in minestrone, of course.
is it okay if i ask you if your meals are cost effective? cause i always see the plethora of ingredients you have everytime you make a dish, and i wonder if you end up spending quite a bit on meals!

I’m sitting in class right now, and my roommates for next year were complaining that they’re going to gain too much weight when we live together. And then they saw this. They both really want to try it, which is fantastic because, like your problem, one of them is a super picky eater. Woo-hoo! Thank you!

Oh my goodness!! This looks amazing. I want to make this for dinner tomorrow, in fact. I love whole wheat pasta, and I love chicken sausage, and I love beans. Sounds like the perfect soup/pasta dish for me! Great job.

I made this, it’s wonderful! Admittedly, I kind of forgot to buy spinach today, so that’s missing. It’s finals week here and I really won’t have time to cook, so I didn’t add the pasta, and I’m just going to throw it in and cook it each day. But, basically, amazing! You rock!

Pearl: I’ve just built up my pantry slowly but surely. All of the spices and sauces that I use are used in small quantities, and I try to buy what cuts of meat happen to be on sale or on special at the time. I spent about $150-$180 on groceries for 9-11 days for 3 people, so I think it’s pretty cost effective! I do spend hours grocery shopping though, looking for the best deals.